The Two Little Orphans
by WhisperedSilver
Summary: AU. Book 9 ends tragically, with only Will escaping alive from the collapse of Tennyson's cave, while Sean O'Carrick and his loyal guards are attacked by suspicious villagers. What will they do?
1. Chapter 1

**The Two Little Orphans**

**Disclaimer: I don't own RA.**

**AN: Hey, no stories with Will and Sean! My first AU.**

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><p>Will squeezed himself out from the small, rocky tunnel and whipped around. Red-faced and panting as he watched the rocks fall, he let out a keening wail as he mourned the deaths of his mentor and friends. The townspeople, having already left long ago, had dispersed.<p>

After about a half-hour, Will, tears rolling down his cheeks, forced himself up onto shaky knees and stumbled over to his party's horses. Tug's eyes brightened at the sight of his master, while Kicker and Abelard, seeing no sign of their riders, slumped. Kicker reared and whinnied once, then bowed his head, while Abelard wearily (although he had had time to rest) turned towards Will for his next command.

"Castle Macindaw," murmured Will, mounting Tug and taking Kicker's reins in hand. He would need to tell Gilan about the goings-on in his fief. Will sighed. Halt and Horace had been close to Gilan, too, and the death of an innocent life [Malcolm] would always be a sorrow.

The journey back was a quiet one, until they saw the boat.

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><p>Sean marched uncertainly through the streets of Clonmel, aware of the guards flanking his sides. He started to take longer and more relaxed strides at a whisper of one of the royal advisors, but he still felt like he should have been marching with them, around his uncle…his dead uncle. Most of them were close comrades, anyway.<p>

The young king jumped back in shock as one of his guards went down by a flying frying pot. Said guard grunted in pain as he fell, concussed, but dropped so he would still block any shots for his king. The rest of the group stopped and took on defensive positions. They were the best knights in the kingdom. They could take anything-

-and then, of course, the village mobbed them.

"No!" came the shout from a dozen voices as what was left of the King's warriors. Sean watched in horror as his friends were stripped away. He felt like a coward, but he knew he would be dead along with the warriors if he stayed…so he fled.

The noble desperately hid behind buildings, horses, anything to hide himself from the suspicious peasants that had not found the body they sought.

He would not rest again for three days.

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><p><strong>New chap up soon, hopefully!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

2LO Ch2

Will quickly tied Kicker to Tug and Abelard and flipped over the figure in the leaking rowboat. He gasped at the familiar face, and noticed various cuts and bruises on his person.

After treating his, er, friend, (Sean was friend_ly_, at least) Will set up camp in the nearby forest. He let Sean rest in one of the tents (he had the luxury of multiple resting areas now) as he sat by the fire with his head in his hands, while his coffee pot steamed in front of him.

Sean woke up in a comfortable position, lethargic and (oddly enough) without the annoying pricks of pain from his collection of open wounds from tree branches, pointy rocks, and some lucky scrapes from a pitchfork. Then his eyes widened as he realized that he had _no idea_ where he was.

He ripped himself out of bed and tripped through the tent flap, still drowsy. Sean hadn't slept that well in three days. "Who-?" he began, but choked when he recognized the mop of brown hair; "Ranger Will?"

The Ranger turned around to face the Hibernian. "King Sean," he said quietly, dipping his head, "You should be in bed." His eyes were red-rimmed from endless crying, and his hands, holding tight to his mug of hot coffee, were shaking.

"No," declared his mentor's nephew, "You should be. You look like you're going to drop dead any second now. I've rested enough."

"Just worn out from crying," protested Will, "You were passed out in a sinking log of wood when I found you." Then he frowned and took a sip from his coffee mug. "What _were_ you doing there, anyway?"

Sean shook his head sadly. "It turns out that the only people who actually believed I wasn't Ferris in a different form were the rest of the royal guard. The villagers tried to assassinate me in the streets. " His eyes dropped to the blazing fire, "And it also turns out that I was the only person who _wasn't_ assassinated." He let out a shaky breath, then looked at Will, "What about you? Where's my uncle? And Horace?"

The young Ranger stared at him for a few seconds, his face blank. But then his features contorted as he bowed his head and said in a watery voice, "Dead. Dead in the rockfall. Dead. And I left them!"

"What?" Sean asked, completely shocked. Will continued in the same vein for a while, however, lost in his own grief.

"Tennyson was preaching in a cave," whispered Will, his eyes shut tight as salty drops leaked out. "We went in to stop him. Halt had gotten poisoned earlier and needed a healer-" Sean's head fell into his hands at this, "-and so the healer, he had these smoke balls. He would throw them, see, and yellow smoke would explode out. It was so loud, it-it shook the cave, and-"

Will stopped. Sean understood, and he mourned now. Will wiped away his last tears. It was time to stop being selfish, he decided. Sean had just met his uncle and had him torn away in a flash. He needed comfort more than him. He rubbed his companion's back and poured him some coffee.

_It's going to be a long night,_ he thought.


	3. Chapter 3

To all readers:

I am so sorry, but I can't continue with this story. All inspiration has just died on me, but I would like to thank you for your support. I encourage you to read some of my other stories, but you don't have to. Thanks for reading and reviewing, and once again, sorry.

WhisperedSilver


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